Design and implementation of an omnidirectional spherical robot Omnicron

Abstract

We report on a novel design and implementation of an omnidirectional spherical robot Omnicron. Instead of using wheels or flywheels, three omnidirectional wheels are installed inside the spherical shell and controlled independently; thus, the 3-degree-of-freedom planar omnidirectional mobility of the robot without any singularity condition can be achieved by simple forward 3-to-3 kinematic mapping. The performance of the robot is experimentally evaluated, thus proving its omnidirectional and trajectory-controllable mobility.